Improvement in the manufacture of ice



JOHN F. GESNER, OF WEST FARMS, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. 107,898, dated October 4, 1870.

" IMPROV-MENT iN' THE MANUFACTURE 0F lCE.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame To all whom 'it may concern:

. -Be it known that I, JOHN F. Gasunie, ot West Farms, in the county ofWestchester and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in the Manufacture of Ice; and I -do hereby declare that thefollowing is a, full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willy'enable others skilled in the art to make and use thesame,ref'erence-being had .to-'theaccompanying drawingA forming part ofthis specification.

This invention relates to'iniprovenients in the munufacture ofic`f.1,aud the refrigeration 'of air, and all fluids, liquids, and solidsubstances whichit may be desirable -to reduce to a low temperature. Theimprovement consists in the construction and arrangement 'of 'theapparatus, thefre-igeration being obtained (as iu previous inventions)by the combined fi-igorific eect of the evaporation and heatconductionof liquid sulphurous anhydride, or b incxide of sul-4 phur,'(ordinarilycalled snlphur'ous acid,) chemical Symbol S02, containingone equivalent of sulphur and two equivalents of oxygen...

Thisl combined evaporation and heat conduction is edected Iin como, oriu chainbers deprived of atmospheric air, or.-under a pressure less thanthat of the atmospherc,viz., fifteen pounds per square inch, by thefollowing apparatus, represented in plan view, lEigure 1; end elevationin Figure 2; partlyiu end elevation and partly in section, Figure 3 iuside elevation and section in Figure 4. Sulphurous-,anhydride1 80,is agas under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere'above, about 14Fahruheits thermometer.

p When reduced, however, to the temperature 'oi' zero 0 Fahrenheit,under the ordinary lpressure of the at mosphere, byan ordinaryfreezing-mixture oi? ice and salt, at, which temperature and pressure'its evapora- Vtion is-slow, or, when subjected to a 'pressure 'of-aboutthirty pounds per square inch Aabove that of the at- ;nosplhere at 60Fahrenheit, it becomes a' mobile iqux This liquid, sulphurous anhydride,boils at about 140 Fahrenheit under the 'in eacuo, or in chambersdeprived of atmospheric-air, as m the apparatus described below, itboils und evaporates.` at a. much lower temperature, `'producing intensecold in the remainipg liquid.

I- use chambers or cases A, of iron or other metal,

wrought or cast, the walls ot' which are of such thick `ness and size asto ,withstand a pressure test of sixty to seventy pounds per squareinch.

bers from six to twelve inches square, and from six to twelve feetlong'. 4

. These chambers, placedhorizontally, are connected m series or rows, bytubes a joining their -upper exand partlyv attached pipe, H, andconnected l of the lower row by a tube, I.

atmospheric pressure, but l I prefer chaun' y .and tightly bolted a heador cap, B.

Wit-hin these larger chambers are placed smaller .chambers D, surroundedby indirect Contact with and beneath'the surface of the liquidsnlphurous anhydride contained u-the larger chambers, These connbinedchambers I denominate frost-ovens.

Within the smaller chambers, contained in the larger ones'and closlytting them, are placed trays -E, containing the water to be frozen.

- These trays may be of any convenient length, depth, and diameter. Iprefer them of two inches diameter, and of such length and depth as to.contain from tty to one hundred pounds of, water, for convenience ofhandling.

The smaller contained chambers and water-trays may be of any metalsuitable for the purpose.

I prefer copper for the smaller chambers, audltinned Vcopper for thewater-tu ys.

An y number of these frost-ovens are placed in rows, horizontally andvertically, so as to form a compact arrangement'to any convenientheight. and breadth, andthe chambers at the end of4 a horizontal rowconnected with the row below, as shown,- by tubesF, which extend nearlyto the top of the upper cases, so that the liquid will be maintained atthe required level. l

Beneath the series of chambers constituting the frost-ovens is placed areservoir, G, similar in shape and size to the exterior case of afrost-oven, with. au

, ,Thisvessel I term the exhaust-reservoir, being connected in practice,lby the pipe H with a doubleacting exhaust and compressing pump, toeffect evaperation from the surfaces of the liquid sulphurous anhidridein. the frost-ovens.

In order to still further equalize the evaporation of the liquid'infrost-ovens, each series or row is connected behind with theexhaust-reservoir H below by i es arranffed as re resented in-fi". 2 Kbehrf herb 1 c: Q i c one for each rowol frost-ovens, the

zontal tubes, lower ones connected to the upper one by tubes L, and thelatter connected to the exhaustsreservoir by the tube M.

, The exhaustreservoir G also serves to retain any surplus fluid. 4 Theaction of the machine is as follows: The atmospheric nir is'rstwithdrawn Vfrein the ap- .p'aratus by means of the double-acting exhaustand com pressing-pumphefore mentioned, connected with the pipeH,afterwhich thestop-cock H' is closed, Then to one of the ovens thesnpply-pipcs'e, being connected' with a suitable leservoir or condensercontaining the liquid sniph urous anhydride, are opened. v

When a good .vacuum is obtained, (to be indicated by a gauge attached tofrost-ovens,) the liquid Isulphurons anhydride is admitted-into thcfrost-ovens ihrough the said pipe e by opening their stop-cocks, withwhich they are provided- The liquid sulphnrous anhydride lows from thepipes e into the connected chambers or l'rost-ovens. As each chamberbecomes full, the freezing-fluid over. tiows, by means of theconnecting-pipes (t (t, into the next, fillingeach in turn.

When the chambers o one row arc-sufiiciently full, the fluid oreriowsbythe pipe F into the chamber below, liiling the second row or series ofchambers in like manner, and so on into the next series, by the nextpipe F, for any number oi' reus. The last row communicates directly'with the exhaust-reservoir G.

When the apparatus is filled to the level of the connecting-tubes aa,the flow of liquid is stopped, the' cccli: Il' opened, and the pump setin motion, the eoclis of pipes e being closed v The evaporated liquid iswithdrawn in the form ci." ges from the surihcee or the saiphurousanhydride in each chamber or frost-oven, above the lere-l of the smallerconta-ined chambers, inwhicli are the trays containinbr the war-er to befrozen.

The gaseous sulphur-ous anhydride withdrawn at each sirelccoi the pumpis compressed at the next stroke in a coil of pipe er suitablecondenser, surrounded by cold water, where itis retained till requiredfor the next operation, from which condenser the liquid sulphnronsanhydride is returnedv bya suitable apparatus to the frost-orens to beagain evaporaeed and returned in the liquid f'orin. No loss ol @luidthus occurs, the sameiinirl freezing an indefinite conent of water.

Evaporation takes place from t-lic snriiice'oi" the fluid abovethesecondary chambers. The cold iiuid oi' greater specific gravity thanthat below falls'to the bottom, and Warnier Huid takes its place. This,becoming colder in turn bythe evaporation of a portion, falls, and thefluid below of a higher temperature rises to the surface.

Thus, by convection, currents are established in the liquid sulphur-ousanhydride in the cases Afwhich tend, by the heat conduction of thefluid, to the continual abstraction of caloric from the surfaces of thesecondary chambers in direct contact with and surrounded by thefreezing-liquid.

For `the refrigeration .of air, the sm'aller contained chambers areconnected, after the manner of a coil of pipe, or coils substituted forthem, connected by exterior pipes.

The air to bc cooled is driven through the coil or coils bya. blower offorce-pump.

Having thus described my invention,

ll claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-f-I 1. The casesA D, pipes e li, anu troughs E, combiued and arranged substantially asspeciied.

2. The arrangement of' the horizont-'al connectingpipes u and thevertical pipes F with the cases A, to maintain theI liquid at therequisite height therein, substantially as specified.

The combination, with the frost-ovens A ll), arranged substantially asdescribed, of the exhaust-rcs` iii-voir G and efihaust-pipeH,snbstantially as speciieri.

ei. The combination, with the liest-ovens and the exhaust-reserv ir G,of the tubes K L M, substan tially as speelt ed.

The above specification of my invention signed by inc this 4th day oi'June, 1870,

-Wimesscsz JOHN l". GESNER.

G W. Manne, ALEX. F. Renners.

